Developing your film in one step
posted Monday, May 4, 2015 at 2:10 PM EDT
Photography startup New55 has released R3 Monobath, a new photochemical that makes developing film a one step process.
To explain the technology behind the developer and what the results looks like, Ted Forbes of The Art of Photography has created an incredibly comprehensive video. In the eighteen minute video, Forbes breaks down the history of monobath developers, explains the chemicals inside New55’s concoction and gives his opinion on the results of the developer.
To pull from Forbes’ history lesson, monobath developers have been around since at least 1967 when William Quan detailed a process for developing Panotomic X films with a one step process. More recently, monobath films have been used in instant film, which could be a leading reason New55 is working on a monobath developer — New55’s existence is driven by the desire to bring back to life the aesthetic of the no longer produced Polaroid Type 55 film.
The video is lengthy but does an excellent job of breaking down everything you need to know about R3 Monobath and the results it produces.
In addition to the video, Forbes has shared a Flickr set with his sample images, developed in the R3 Monobath developer.
For more videos from Ted Forbes, head on over to his YouTube channel, The Art of Photography.